


The Stirring of the Cauldron

by vix_spes



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: hds_beltane, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Established Relationship, HP: EWE, Humor, M/M, POV Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-17
Updated: 2014-06-17
Packaged: 2018-02-05 01:28:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1800418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vix_spes/pseuds/vix_spes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Despite a somewhat unusual start to their relationship, Severus is actually very happy with Harry. Now, if only he didn’t have to share him with what seemed like the entire Wizarding world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Stirring of the Cauldron

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lomonaaeren](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lomonaaeren/gifts).



Severus sighed as he went through the shelves of his personal ingredients cupboard, shaking his head in disgust at himself. The number of depleted ingredients was truly shocking and he had no idea how he had managed to let his normally impeccable ingredients cupboard get into such a horrendous state. Casting another glance over the shelves, he actually shuddered. There were certain ingredients that were clearly beyond use anymore, there were jars that were worryingly depleted and others that, even more worryingly, were completely empty. Even when he had been a small child learning beginning potions under his mother’s careful tutelage, he had kept his ingredients in impeccable conditions. As patient as Eileen Prince had been while teaching her young son her beloved subject, she had been a stickler when it came to ingredients. Laying aside the parchment and quill that he had been intending to use to just make a list of what he needed from Slug and Jiggers, he set about organising the jars. Beltane was fast approaching and with it a large order of specialist healing potions, their properties believed to be enhanced by ingredients collected during the festival.

If he was honest with himself, he knew how things had got into such a mess and all the blame could be laid firmly at the feet of one Harry Potter. Unlike the Hogwarts years where that would mean that Potter had come up with some new hare-brained scheme or was trying to avoid being killed yet again and was thus raiding Severus’ stocks (or having house elves do it on his behalf). Now, even though Severus no longer taught at Hogwarts and Potter was no longer a student making illicit Polyjuice potion, Harry Potter was still a bloody nuisance and a distraction. Only now, the distraction came from the fact that Harry Potter was in his bed whenever possible.

The saviour of the Wizarding world, to the amazement of many, now taught Defence of the Dark Arts at Hogwarts despite the offers to just walk into the Auror Academy and a place as Seeker in numerous Quidditch teams across the country as well as the English national team. It hadn’t surprised Severus when he had turned them all down though in favour of studying for his Defence mastery with the intention of becoming the newest professor at Hogwarts when he was finished. If he was perfectly honest, Severus knew that Hogwarts finally had the right person for the job, however much people had believed that he wanted it during his tenure as a professor.

When he forced himself to remove his blinkers, his prejudice, and see _Harry_ Potter rather than an amalgam of James Potter and Sirius Black, it had been apparent that Harry despised the way that he was courted by the press. After all he, much like Severus, had first-hand experience of the way that some journalists had a tendency to twist the words of the people that they interviewed in order to suit their own means. Once he had announced his decision and the career path that he would be taking, Harry had all but disappeared and only a select few had known where he was and what he was doing.

Severus had been introduced into that small circle some three or four months after Harry had gone into hiding, the contact being made via McGonagall. As part of his mastery, Harry had started doing significant research into the fields of ritual magic and magical theory, both of which he had something of a vested interest in. A conversation with McGonagall had revealed that Harry’s area of interest had a crossover with Severus’ and, given the amount of research and resources he had managed to collect over the years, she had put them in contact.

Finally able to separate Harry from James Potter, the rest of the Marauders and Lily Evans, the meetings had been infinitely more successful than the disastrous Occlumency lessons or even five years of Potions lessons. That wasn’t to stay that the first few meetings were easy. Far from it. Both men were on the defensive, battling with old pre-conceptions and falling into old habits far too easily. Slowly, it had got better. The sharp, needled comments and barbs that were chosen specifically to be as antagonistic as possible, to cause the most damage slowly took on a more sarcastic, teasing bent as the two developed a healthy respect for each other over hours of research and debate.

What Severus really hadn’t been expecting over the course of all this was that he would develop an attraction to Harry. Even more surprising had been the fact that apparently Severus’ attraction had been mutual.

  
~*~

  
As their working relationship had improved, Harry had become one of the select few with the ability to Floo or apparate into Severus’ home without the sophisticated and highly personalised wards attacking him. Unfortunately for Severus, that meant that Severus never knew when Harry was just going to appear on a whim, without informing Severus that he was coming. Such as he did on the Beltane eighteen months after they had first re-established contact.

Many potions for fertility, healing and a few rarer ones for protection were believed to be made more potent when their ingredients were gathered during the festival of Beltane, even more so if they were gathered naked under a full moon. Severus had never truly been convinced as to the exact science or indeed the truth behind these beliefs, but he had been taught them by both his mother and his own potions master so thus had no reason to believe that there was no basis in truth. Besides, there was always a high demand for potions made from Beltane ingredients and who was Severus to refuse extra work. As such, he had ensured that, when he bought the property and was planting the gardens, he had taken the time to transplant the hawthorn bushes and birch and rowan trees that his mother had tended so faithfully in the garden of Spinner’s End into a secluded grove.

It was there that Harry found him, having returned to the grove after storing his carefully collected ingredients, still naked and relishing the feeling of freedom. Severus had never been ashamed of his body, despite the scars and marks that it bore following long years in the service of Voldemort not to mention a childhood with Tobias Snape as his father. Yet, the glow of the full moon was relentless, baring everything for the scrutiny of Harry, who was shameless in his appraisal of Severus’ nude form, making Severus fight the urge to cover himself with his hands.

Whatever he was expecting, and he wasn’t entirely sure what he was expecting, it hadn’t been for Harry to bridge the gap between them and kiss him. One kiss turned into another and then another, everything spiralling quickly. It seemed as though, even though they hadn’t realised it, everything had been building up to this and before he knew what was happening, Severus found himself stripping Harry and pressing him down onto the floor of the grove.

  
(~*~)

  
The following morning, a large part of him had expected Harry to bolt away, regretting their actions of the night before. What he hadn’t expected when they woke, shivering slightly from the dew that covered them and the fact that they were both still naked was for Harry to press closer for a kiss before pulling Severus over on top of him for a repeat performance of the previous evening. Even more surprising was that it kept happening, that Harry kept returning and somehow, Severus ended up at dinner with Weasley and Granger with the realisation that he was in a relationship with Harry Potter.

As such, Beltane was actually his and Harry's anniversary. Strange how the thing that Severus didn't find strangest was the date but the fact that he had an anniversary to celebrate at all. Prior to Harry, there had only been three anniversaries that he had acknowledged (the word celebrate definitely did not apply) and they had been the day that he had been monumentally stupid enough to have the Dark Mark inked into his skin, the day that he confessed to Dumbledore and became a spy and the day that Lily Evans had died. Each date had been spent getting as drunk as he possibly could. Now, he actually had a date to celebrate and a 'getting together' story that he had no intention of ever telling anybody. When they had admitted their relationship, he and Harry had actually fabricated the story of how they had ended up together both out of a desire to keep something to themselves but also because it wasn't actually something that they were hugely proud of.

After all, who but them needed to know that they had spent Beltane eve together under a full moon before they had even had a single date.

  
~*~

  
Unfortunately, dating and being in a relationship with one Harry Potter came with a whole host of problems that Severus had never considered (as well as ones that he had); the main one being that he had lost all of his hard-won privacy. For someone who was happiest with his beloved research and potions, the discovery that by embarking upon a relationship he had apparently given the entire Wizarding world permission to intrude into his life had been a bitter pill to swallow.

Severus had never been one to live his life in the public glare with one exception. That had been once Voldemort had been killed and it had been revealed that Snape had been a double agent for the duration of both Wizarding wars. The press had been relentless, bombarding him with owls requesting interviews, Floo calls and even reporters and photographers following him whenever he ventured out of his house. They had done everything they possibly could to make his life hell and he had been more than relieved when they, and the rest of the Wizarding world, had been convinced that he had actually been working for Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix. Not that that had made his life any easier. In fact, the bombardment of requests for interviews had continued at much the same rate and the flock of press outside his door grew to such a size that the only appealing option was to become a hermit in his own home until the next big story came along. Which no doubt would be Harry Potter?

Except there was no next big story; Harry bloody Potter had apparently gone into hiding which meant that the irritating journalists were still outside. He took the opportunity of one of McGonagall’s regular Floo calls to beg him to return to Hogwarts to complain about them and had been unimpressed with the solution that she had suggested. She had actually been on the opinion that if he gave an interview, just the one, then it would actually get rid of the rest of them. As horrified as he was by the suggestion, the more that he thought about it, the more that he could see the logic in it. By saying that he would give just one exclusive interview, the public would have their damned story and he would have his life back. But, having decided to do the interview brought about a whole set of new problems, the main one being who would be the best person to give the interview to, to give his story to. Who would give an unbiased account without twisting his words to suit their own needs or desire for a sensationalist story? It was McGonagall who came up trumps again with her suggestion of him giving just one interview to Luna Lovegood and the Quibbler.

Not that Severus had thought that it was a good idea to begin with. Part of that was due to the fact that McGonagall had suggested it and, as much as he respected the witch and as fond as he was of her – not that he would ever admit it, unless he was under the Cruciatus curse – he refused to agree with her immediately out of principle. Inevitably, seven or eight times out of ten – if he was being generous – he would end up agreeing with her. The problem with her suggestion of Luna Lovegood and the Quibbler wasn’t Luna Lovegood at all but the Quibbler. Severus would never admit it out loud but he had had favourite students outside of Slytherin House. If not favourite, then at least _favoured._ All of the heads of houses had favourites within their own house; that was something that had never been disputed and was actually something akin to a tradition. Most of the time, they had also had occasional preferred students amongst other students. One of Severus’ had been the rather odd and utterly individual Luna Lovegood. She was undoubtedly intelligent having been sorted into Ravenclaw but she was also gifted with an unusual sort of wisdom if you listened carefully despite the ditzy nature that she projected and had regularly been at the top of his potions class. Research had proved what Severus had truthfully known all along; as disturbing as it was, the Quibbler was the best option for getting his story known.

Despite the occasionally frustrating interview process when Luna became distracted and started talking some utter drivel, Severus couldn’t help but be pleased by the final result, not least by the fact that he was finally being left alone by the press. There had been an influx of post, both letters of genuine support and Howlers criticising his actions, immediately after the publication of his interview but that had all calmed down to the point that he was able to venture out into public again. It had proved so successful that two years later, when the news finally broke that the Saviour of the Wizarding world was seeing his former Potions professor, there was only one person that the two of them would consider giving an interview to and that was Luna Lovegood and the blasted Quibbler.

What Severus hadn’t been prepared for, once he had accepted the fact that he was in a relationship with Harry Potter, had been the way that the entirety of the Wizarding world felt that they had some kind of right to knowing all of the intimate details about their relationship. It felt as though nothing was sacrosanct. Once again, he had been unable to leave home without a press pack following doggedly at his heels. Random strangers would come up to Severus in the street and ask about things that they had no right to ask about. It frustrated Severus no end and, on more than one occasion, his fingers had itched for his wand but he had managed to resist temptation. It was a daily struggle and Severus felt that he deserved a great deal of credit for not having hexed a large percentage of the population. Did people really have nothing better to do than ask incredibly nosy questions about his private life?

When he and Harry had decided that they could no longer consider what they had to be a casual relationship and that they should make things official, Severus had assumed that he would have to share Harry with the multitude of friends and adoptive family that the younger man had. He had expected that, even if he didn’t like it. While he had never been fond of the Weasley children, except for maybe liking Bill and Charlie, he genuinely liked Molly and Arthur Weasley. Any witch that took out Bellatrix Lestrange, half-crazed and mad with battle-lust, had more than earned his respect. However, just because she had earned his respect, it didn’t give her the right to ask such probing questions. The conversation where she had essentially asked about his and Harry’s sex life had been the most awkward that he had ever sat through and even now he still shuddered at the thought of it.

Then there had been the fact that the other two thirds of the Golden Trio had given him, or tried to give him, the traditional talk wherein if he hurt Harry they would hurt him. Considering everything he had been through and seen, it was rather amusing that they honestly thought that they could do anything, but he appreciated that they had done it. Especially as he knew that Weasley was still slightly scared of him; even if he would never admit it. What made that truly laughable was that Weasley was still afraid of him after everything they had been through.

It still wasn’t easy though, particularly given that it was Severus who had to deal with the majority of the intrusion. As Harry was a member of the Hogwarts staff, he was protected by the schools wards and, with the addition of some new wards and casting (plus several rather devoted house elves), Harry was spared the brunt of people’s nosiness. Severus was nowhere near that lucky. If he accepted a position back at Hogwarts or even the offer to live in the castle and not teach the problem would be eradicated or at least significantly curtailed. But, Severus didn’t want to move back to Hogwarts; he had spent far too much of his life there already. He had relished the opportunity of being able to move away from the confines of the castle as well as the drab, dingy Spinner’s End. Now though, he lived in a reasonably-sized cottage that had been modified with Wizards space to give him a potions laboratory and storage area that rivalled his old classroom at Hogwarts.

The grounds were the real reason that Severus loved the property and refused to leave, his work space aside. Everything had been heavily warded to keep out trespassers and the grounds had been turned into every potions master and herbologists dream. At Hogwarts he had never had the time to grow his own ingredients (and had never had to given Pomona Sprout’s expertise), but now he could indulge and did so, growing as many of his required ingredients as he could. Others he still he had to source from a variety of nurseries and trusted importers, but it made things easier for him. Unless, of course, he got so distracted that he allowed himself to deplete his stocks.

The Easter holidays had fallen early that year and Harry, having stayed at the castle to supervise students over Christmas, hadn’t been obligated to stay. Instead, he had come to the cottage for the entire three weeks, going back to the castle two afternoons a week to run revision sessions for those students sitting their NEWT and OWL examinations. Severus’ comment that Granger would be proud hadn’t gone down well at all. Harry had even threatened to withhold sex, although that hadn’t lasted long. Threats of that kind never did, particularly when Harry wanted Severus as much as Severus wanted Harry even after several years together.

Given that they got to spend very little time together during the school terms, they had spent a significant amount of time in bed, as they usually did. Not that their activities were limited to the bedroom; after all, they had ensured that they had christened every room in the cottage. Not limiting their activities to the bedroom had the added pleasure, for Severus at least, of being able to traumatise Weasley; something that they had already done on several occasions. On the other hand, spending a considerable amount of time in bed meant that Severus was guaranteed to be the sole recipient of Harry’s attention. He had never considered himself to be a jealous man although, looking back with hindsight to his relationship with Lily, he supposed that he always had been. He liked having Harry’s undivided attention. He liked not having to share him with a multitude of redheads, Gryffindor’s and all and sundry.

If Severus had his way, he wouldn’t have to share Harry at all. Or at least not so much, considering how little time they got to spend together as it was.

  
~*~

  
Slowly, the old traditions were starting to come back, the Bel fires being lit up and down the country and May poles erected in groves. Although the practices weren’t widespread, they were acknowledged and Harry had been given leave from Hogwarts as it was his anniversary as well as Beltane. They had no fancy plans, no evening out or any of the traditional anniversary celebrations. Instead, they planned to spend the evening much as they had that very first Beltane. They would collect the ingredients that Severus needed and then they would spend the rest of the evening celebrating in the hawthorn grove.

Unfortunately, as Beltane approached quickly, the number of press hovering just beyond Severus’ wards also increased. One journalist in particular, a former student who by all appearances had modelled herself after Rita Skeeter, had taken to stalking him, for lack of a better word. Nothing was sacred and she seemed to be there, whenever he ventured out, asking probing questions that she had no right to ask. With their anniversary fast approaching, her questions had become even more personal until Severus was very nearly at the end of his tether.

Today, two days before Beltane, was no different.

“Mr Snape, given that yours and Mr Potter’s three-year anniversary falls on Beltane, do you have any special plans.”

“Why yes, hadn’t you heard? We’ve been planning a Handfasting to take place in the grounds of Hogwarts.”

The sarcasm behind his words could quite clearly be heard to anybody with any sense but Severus had taught this individual and knew her to be particularly vapid, so she was highly unlikely to notice it. Before Severus had time to really think about what he had said or to retract it, the Quick Quotes quill had sprung into action and noted his words, the accompanying photographer had snapped a quick photo and the pair had apparated away.

Oh Merlin, Harry was going to kill him.

**Author's Note:**

> If you would prefer to comment on LJ, you can do so [here](http://vix-spes.livejournal.com/164399.html)


End file.
